Bible Course online
Bar-Ilan University’s Zalman Shamir Department of Bible is launching its first Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) later this month.
The course, entitled The Bible in Light of the Ancient Near East, will be presented via edX, an online learning and MOOC provider founded by Harvard University and MIT in 2012 that offers high-quality courses from the world’s leading universities and institutions to learners around the globe, using a technology that sets a new standard for online and global learning, the main goal of which is to break down geographical and cultural barriers between learners.
The Bible in Light of the Ancient Near East (https://www.edx.org/course/bible-light-ancient-near-east-israelx-0109434x#!) is an introduction to the Bible, set against the background of the rich archaeological findings from the Ancient Near East. The purpose of the nine-week course is to introduce students to the fascinating world of Israel’s neighboring civilizations in biblical times, and to offer a comparative study that examines the relationship between the Bible and these civilizations.
Opening on Wednesday, October 25, the course will also offer a new understanding of the ancient Near Eastern context of such central biblical themes and genres as creative traditions, flood stories, the Tower of Babel story, law literature, prophecy and wisdom.
The professionally-produced course combines images filmed at the British Museum, rich images of many relevant findings, and a variety of online activities. The course was produced as part of the first cycle of an innovative program of the Council for Higher Education (CHE) and the CHE’s Planning and Budgeting Committee, together with Digital Israel, as part of the effort to make Israeli academia accessible to the interested public around the world.
The course will be taught by Dr. Nili Samet, who teaches Bible and Assyriology in the Zalman Shamir Department of Bible. A member of the Bar-Ilan faculty since 2011, her research interests include the study of the Bible in its ancient Near Eastern context, Biblical and Mesopotamian Wisdom and Lamentation literature, Sumerian language and culture, and Biblical Hebrew. Dr. Samet has received numerous honors, including a Bikura Postdoctoral Scholarship and Alon Fellowship for Outstanding Young Researchers.
The Zalman Shamir Department of Bible at Bar-Ilan University is the largest of its kind in the world devoted to the study of the Hebrew Bible. Dedicated to the teaching and critical study of the plain meaning of the text of the Hebrew Bible, the Department also imparts tools for the study of the entire tradition of classical commentators – the ancient translations from the second-Temple period, Talmudic writings, medieval and
